In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World It Made

I read this book when it first came out and was impressed. Now, with COVID foremost in our memory, I thought I would dust it off again. What a disappointment. It had not struck me on the initial reading how petty and condescending the author is towards his subjects. The people of 14th century Europe are constantly compared--not positively--with our time and found wanting. Their society is "cruel, selfish", the King of England "ruthless, devious and greedy", a "fighting royal monster" and "the epitome of that devilish breed."

OK, so 14th century England was far from Paradise, but do we have any right to criticize? The butcher's bill for the 20th century puts all of human history in the shade. This sort of arrogant, bitchy view of the past is helpful only in making the reader feel (probably undeservedly) superior over people who cannot defend themselves. I very much doubt whether, had he been transported back six centuries to plague-ravaged London, the author would have done any better.

This is my first encounter with Cantor's work, and I am very disappointed. Rather than providing a good scholarly overview of the Plague and its impact on medieval Europe, Cantor spends a good portion of the book passing judgment on medieval society in general and the aristocracy in particular according to twenty-first century Western standards. Not only does Cantor make numerous unsubstantiated claims and broad generalizations but he also sours the entire text with a heavy-handed Marxist flavor. This work needs serious revision of its tone and facts. Until then, I do not recommend it for anyone seeking a general history of the Black Death in medieval Europe.

This book presents a quick look at the plague from many perspectives: social, medical, and historical. It is a survey of many, many sources and is written mostly from an ecclesiastical context, which is Cantor's specialty. The book is well-written with strong word choice, clear sentences, and accessible word choices.

I particularly enjoyed Cantor's look at the social perspective of the plague. One chapter in particular gave a good run-down of the literature on the relationship between labor and landowners. The author's conclusion is that laborers were not able to take advantage of the labor shortage "in the wake of the plague" because landowners and title-holding nobles were quick to suppress any such economic movements. Another chapter focused on the rather hideous attempts to blame Jews for the plague. Historical accounts of blaming Jewish people exist, but they lack context, which Cantor provides, and they also give little information other than numbers. Cantor adds Catholic church history to these numbers, which creates a grim picture of the plague's social consequences.

I have two qualms with "In the Wake of the Plague." The first is that the book could include many more examples of case studies rather than a few selected towns and a few selected dioceses. The second is that the historiography towards the end of the book seemed somewhat dated. An attempt was made to cite the upper Nile River as a potential source for the plague, an idea most genetic historians accept.

The book also includes a wonderfully complete "further reading" section and an index. It is a good introduction to the Black Death.